Life and Critical Illness cover

Hi Mazzalou,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Unfortunately, we don’t recommend any financial products or services but hopefully you may find the following information helpful.

When an insurer is deciding whether to offer someone insurance, and if so on what terms, they will ask about a person’s health and medical history. They will also ask about the health and medical history of their close family members. So, if someone has had cancer already, or if any of their close relatives have had cancer (or another serious health problem) at a relatively young age, insurance companies may refuse to offer cover, or may increase the payment they are willing to charge.

If the company thinks the risk is too high, they may decline to offer cover, or they may decline to start with and say they’ll look again later and reassess the application. Some may offer cover however put an exclusion on the policy stating that cancer would not be covered. If they do accept, they may increase the monthly payment they ask for.

If someone has had a genetic test, they can choose to tell their insurer about a negative result. This might make up for any negative effect their family history has had on the application. Most insurers will take the result of such a test into account, provided that the result is from a reputable source. For more information visit: https://www.abi.org.uk/data-and-resources/tools-and-resources/genetics/ 

It’s also worth thinking about what cover your daughter may already have in place. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that cover may already be in place through death-in-service benefit with a current employer, or from pension schemes she might of been a part of either now or in the past.

Something else to consider might be Guaranteed Underwriting Life Policies. The difference is that these policies are offered to people even if they have pre-existing health conditions or there is family history of health conditions. However, this type of life insurance will normally only cover someone for a smaller amount of money, usually around the cost of a funeral. These policies normally have a deferred period, which means for usually the first 1 or 2 years the policy wouldn’t pay out if the person covered dies but after this period has ended it would pay out the lump sum.

If they’re struggling to find cover they may find it useful to speak to an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) who can search the whole of the insurance market. Your daughter can search for an IFA here or the MoneyHelper also have useful info and tips for choosing an IFA here. If she does this make sure they and the company they work for are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, you can do that here.

You can also start a discussion or post your question in the Breast Cancer Forum on our online community here.

I hope this helps you but if you need any more help please do let me know or call the Macmillan Support Line (freephone) on 0808 808 0000.

Will

Financial Guide

Remember you can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or by email.